Asia Section Board of Directors

The Asia Section of the Society for Conservation Biology has an international following of members that support conservation in the Asian Region. The Board of Directors is an elected body that facilitates the goals and activities of the Section.

Current Members

Tony Lynam is President of the SCB Asia Section and was first member of SCB in 1987. He completed a Ph.D at UC San Diego. Tony has worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society for 21 years. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, he works regionally in Asia and East Africa to train government and local NGO staff and help make protected areas more effective.
Member: IUCN Cat Specialist Group (2017-2020)Website | LinkedIn |Reviews |Blog | Publications

Krishna is the Vice-President of the SCB Asia Section since August 2018. He completed a Ph.D (Marine Biology) at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India and Post-doc from NWFSC/NOAA, Seattle, USA. He has more than 25 years research experience in marine science, with a focus on marine conservation. Previously he worked for the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Kochi, India. Currently works in the Center for Environment and Water, Research Institute, KFUPM.

As CFO, Jennie manages the finances of the Asia Section. Jennie researches carnivore ecology and human-wildlife interactions in pursuit of decision support tools that enable people and carnivores to sustainably coexist. She has worked extensively in India on wildlife conservation, conducting field research for a Fulbright Scholarship on Himalayan pheasants and doctorate research on tiger and leopard depredation of livestock.LinkedIn| Website

Ghazala has a PhD in Ecology and Conservation Biology from Duke University (1998). She has researched and published extensively on habitat fragmentation, land use change, avian ecology, community-based conservation and wildlife policy in South and South-East Asia. She has taught at Duke University and American University, and was an Associate Professor in Environmental Studies at Ambedkar University, Delhi, India from 2009 to 2014.LinkedIn|Facebook|

Shermin directs the Udawalawe Elephant Research Project, and is a Trustee of EFECT, in Sri Lanka. She studies all aspects of Asian elephant behavior and ecology, and the interface between elephants and people, with the aim of understanding how populations of large animals can survive alongside people.
Member: IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group.Website|Blog| Google Scholar| LinkedIn|TwitterTenure ends in July 2018

Alice is a conservationist based in China who works throughout Southeast Asia. Her research aims to better our understanding biodiversity's patterns and drivers of its change with to encourage more effective management and conservation. Supplementary to this, Alice leads capacity building across the Tropics and holds positions on the boards of a number of ecological societies and NGOs to help promote ecology and build ecological capacity across the global tropics, especially in Southeast Asia.

Hanyeh Ghaffari has been one of the only two members of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group from Iran since 2004. Her professional interests encompass the fields of ecology and conservation of pond turtles and tortoises, especially the Euphrates Softshell turtle (Rafetus Euphraticus) in the Middle East. Hanyeh's research activities focus on the natural history and ecology of native and invasive reptiles and amphibians.
National Steering Committee member of the GEF Small Grants Programme - UNDP (since 2016).Publications

Jeff has contributed to conservation in Asia since 1970. He spent 12 years between Thailand, Indonesia, and Nepal before going to IUCN in Switzerland and retired as Chief Scientist after 3 decades. He has written/edited almost 50 books and over 350 scientific papers and book chapters. He returned to Thailand in 2012 and worked with Asian Development Bank on the Greater Mekong Subregion's protected areas and serves as the policy advisor to Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Future Members

If you are interested in being a member of the Asia Board you must be a member of SCB and a member of the Section. Generally 2 to 4 board members are elected annually. The Call for Nominations goes out in September or October and the election runs in October or November. Each year Section members receive an email about the open positions and the start of the election process. For more information about getting involved with this board, please email the Asia Section Board.